GAMES AND ENGLISH SERIES

Game Of Thrones (GOT)

About Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. It is an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin's series of fantasy novels, the first of which is titled A Game of Thrones. It is filmed at Titanic Studios in Belfast and on location elsewhere in the United Kingdom, as well as in Croatia, Iceland, Malta, Morocco, Spain, and the United States. The series premiered on HBO in the United States on April 17, 2011, and its sixth season concluded on June 26, 2016. The series was renewed for a seventh season, which is scheduled to premiere in mid-2017 with a total of seven episodes.^[5]The series will conclude with its eighth season in 2018.

The series is set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos and interweaves several plot lines with a large ensemble cast. The first narrative arc follows a dynastic conflict among competing claimants for succession to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, with other noble families fighting for independence from it; the second covers the attempts to reclaim the throne by the exiled last scion of the realm's deposed ruling dynasty; the third chronicles the rising threat of the impending winter and the legendary creatures and fierce peoples of the North.

Game of Thrones has attracted record numbers of viewers on HBO and attained an exceptionally broad and active international fan base. It has received widespread acclaim by critics, particularly for its acting, complex characters, story, scope, and production values, although its frequent use of nudity, violence, and sexual violence has attracted criticism. The series has won 38 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series in 2015 and 2016, more than any other primetime scripted television series. Itsnumerous other awards and nominations include three Hugo Awards for Best Dramatic Presentation (2012–2014), the Peabody Award (2011), and three nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama (2012, 2015–2016). From among the ensemble cast, Peter Dinklage has won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2011, 2015) and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2012) for his performance as Tyrion Lannister. Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Maisie Williams, Diana Rigg, and Max von Sydow have also received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for their performances in the series, in their respective categories.

Setting

Game of Thrones roughly follows the storylines set out in A Song of Ice and Fire,set in the fictional Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. The series chronicles the violent dynastic struggle among the realm's noble families for the Iron Throne, while other families are fighting for independence from it. As the series opens, additional threats emerge in the icy North and in the eastern continent of Essos.

"The Sopranos in Middle-earth" is the tagline that showrunner David Benioff jokingly suggested for Game of Thrones, referring to its intrigue-filled plot and dark tone combined with a fantasy setting that incorporates some magic and dragons. In a 2012 study of deaths per episode, the series was listed second out of 40 recent U.S. TV drama series, with an average of 14 deaths per episode.

(The map of GOT)

Inspirations And Derivations

The first season is a faithful adaptation of the novel. Later seasons, however, began to diverge with significant changes. According to David Benioff, the show is "about adapting the series as a whole and following the map George laid out for us and hitting the major milestones, but not necessarily each of the stops along the way."

The novels and their adaptations derive aspects of their settings, characters and plot from various events of European history. A principal inspiration for the novels is the English Wars of the Roses (1455–85) between the houses of Lancaster and York, reflected in Martin's houses of Lannister and Stark. Most of Westeros is reminiscent of High Medieval Western Europe, with its castles and knightly tournaments. The scheming Cersei, for instance, calls to mind Isabella, the "she-wolf of France" (1295–1358). She and her family (as depicted in Maurice Druon's historical novel series The Accursed Kings, in particular) inspired Martin.^[14] Other historical inspirations for elements of the series include Hadrian's Wall (which became Martin's Wall), the legend of Atlantis (ancient Valyria), Byzantine "Greek fire" ("wildfire"), Icelandic sagas of the Viking Age (the Ironborn), the Mongol hordes (the Dothraki), and elements from the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) and the Italian Renaissance (c. 1400–1500).The series' great popularity has been attributed in part to Martin's skill at fusing these disparate elements into a seamless whole that appears credible on its own terms as an alternative history.

Cast and Characters

Like the novels it adapts, Game of Thrones has a sprawling ensemble cast, estimated to be the largest on television.During the production of the third season, 257 cast names were recorded.In 2014, several of the actors' contracts were renegotiated to include the option for a seventh season, and included raises that reportedly made the cast among the best-paid on cable TV.The following overview reduces the list of characters in Game of Thrones to those played by the actors credited as part of the main cast.

Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark (Sean Bean) is the head of House Stark, whose members are involved in most of the series' intertwined plot lines. He and his wife, Catelyn Tully (Michelle Fairley), have five children: Robb (Richard Madden) is the eldest, followed by Sansa (Sophie Turner), Arya (Maisie Williams), Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) and Rickon (Art Parkinson) who is the youngest. Ned's bastard son Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and his friend Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) serve in the Night's Watch under Lord Commander Jeor Mormont (James Cosmo). The Wildlings living north of the Wall include the warriors Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju) and Ygritte (Rose Leslie), as well as the young Gilly (Hannah Murray).

People associated with House Stark include Ned's ward, Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), as well as Ned's vassal, Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton), and his bastard son, Ramsay Snow (Iwan Rheon). Robb falls in love with the healer Talisa Maegyr (Oona Chaplin), and Arya befriends blacksmith's apprentice Gendry (Joe Dempsie) and the assassin Jaqen H'ghar (Tom Wlaschiha). The tall warrior Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) serves Catelyn and, later, Sansa.

In the capital of King's Landing, Ned's old friend, King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy), shares a loveless marriage with Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), who has taken her twin, the "Kingslayer", Ser Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), as her secret lover. She loathes her younger brother, the dwarf Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), who is attended by his mistress, Shae (Sibel Kekilli), and the sellsword Bronn (Jerome Flynn). Cersei's father is Lord Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance). Cersei also has two young sons: Joffrey(Jack Gleeson) and Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman). Joffrey is guarded by the scar-faced warrior Sandor "the Hound" Clegane (Rory McCann).

The king's "Small Council" of advisors includes the crafty Master of Coin, Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (Aidan Gillen), and Lord Varys (Conleth Hill), the eunuch spymaster. Robert's brother Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) is advised by the foreign priestess Melisandre (Carice van Houten) and the former smuggler Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham). The wealthy Tyrell family is primarily represented at court by Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer). The High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) is the principal religious leader in King's Landing. In the southern principality of Dorne, Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma) seeks vengeance against the Lannisters.

Across the Narrow Sea, siblings Viserys (Harry Lloyd) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) – the exiled children of the last king from the original ruling dynasty that was overthrown by Robert Baratheon – are on the run for their lives, trying to win back the throne. Daenerys has been married to Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), the leader of the nomadic Dothraki. Her retinue includes the exiled knight Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen); her aide, Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel); and the sellsword Daario Naharis (Michiel Huisman).

(Cast of  GOT series)

Counter Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Hidden Path Entertainment and Valve Corporation. It is the fourth game in the main Counter-Strike franchise. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 in August 2012,with the Linux version being released in September 2014. It features classic content, such as revamped versions of classic maps, as well as brand new maps, characters and game modes. Cross-platform multiplayer was planned between Windows, OS X, Linux, and PlayStation 3 players,but was ultimately limited to Windows, OS X, and Linux because of the differences in update-frequency between systems.

Gameplay

Similar to previous Counter-Strike games, Global Offensive is an objective-based multiplayer first-person shooter. Players play as Terrorists or Counter Terrorists, and must complete objectives while attempting to eliminate the enemy team.

Players purchase weapons and equipment at the beginning of every round with money awarded based on their performance. Completing objectives such as planting the bomb or killing an enemy earns players money, but negative actions, such as friendly fire towards a teammate or hostage will result in monetary penalty. In addition, when a round ends all players receive some amount of money, with players on the winning team receiving substantially more.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive added new weapons and equipment not seen in previous installments, most notably the firebomb for each side (referred to as a Molotov on the terrorist side and as an Incendiary Grenade on the Counter-Terrorist side). These temporarily cover a small area in fire, dealing damage to anyone passing through.Cosmetic items, such as weapon finishes, were added post-release.

Professional Comepetition

In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, in addition to normal tournament circuits hosted by third-party organizations, Valve organizes or co-sponsors a series of events itself, referred to as 'majors'. These events are special in that they have large prize pools, which are crowdfunded by the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community via in-game keys bought to open in-game cases,and special in-game cosmetics - usually in the form of stickers of the qualified teams logo, and signatures of qualified players that can be applied to guns or used to predict the results of the tournament - are introduced into the game, and are purchasable from Valve during the duration of the tournament.

On September 23, 2015 it was announced that WME/IMG and Turner Broadcasting were creating a televised Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports league called ELeague to be broadcast on US cable television network TBS in 2016.

On October 2, 2015, a number of professional esports organization with Counter-Strike teams announced the formation of a trade union that set several demands for future tournament attendance. The announcement was a publicly posted email written by Natus Vincere CEO Alexander Kokhanovskyy that was sent to organizers of major esports events. Among these demands was notice that teams part of the union would not attend a tournament with a prize pool of less than $75,000 for CS:GO and $100,000 for Dota 2.Among the teams that were announced were Natus Vincere, Team Liquid, Counter Logic Gaming, Cloud9, Virtus.pro, Team SoloMid,Fnatic, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Titan, and EnVyUs.

Defense Of The Ancients

INTRODUCTION

Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game in which two teams of five players compete to collectively destroy a large structure defended by the opposing team known as the "Ancient", whilst defending their own.As in Defense of the Ancients, the game is controlled using standard real-time strategy controls, and is presented on a single map in athree-dimensional isometric perspective.Ten players each control one of the game's 112 playable characters, known as "heroes", with each having their own design, benefits, and weaknesses.Heroes are divided into two primary roles, known as the "carry" and "support". Carries begin each match as weak and vulnerable, but rapidly become more powerful during the game, thus becoming able to "carry" their team to victory. Supports generally lack abilities that deal heavy damage, instead having ones with more functionality and utility that provide assistance for their carries.

                                                (Few examples of heroes in the image above)

All heroes have a basic damage-dealing attack, in addition to powerful hero-specific abilities. Each hero has at least four abilities, and these are the primary method of fighting.The most powerful ability for each hero is known as their "ultimate", which requires them to have an experience level of six in order to learn and use. In order to prevent abilities from beingspammed without consequence, a magic system in the game exists. Activating an ability costs a hero some of their "mana points", which regenerate slowly over time.Using an ability will also cause it to enter a cooldown phase, in which the ability can not be used again until a timer counts down to zero. All heroes have three attributes: strength, intelligence, and agility, which affect health points, mana points, and attack speed, respectively. Each hero has one primary attribute, which influences non-ability damage.Heroes begin each game with an experience level of one, only having access to one of their abilities, but are able to level up and become more powerful during the course of the game. Whenever a hero gains an experience level, the player is able to unlock another of their abilities or improve one already learned. If a hero runs out of health points and dies, a timer begins to count down until they respawn in their base.

The two teams—known as the Radiant and Dire—occupy fortified bases in opposite corners of the map, which is divided in half by a crossable river and connected by three paths, where are referred to as "lanes".^[1] The lanes are guarded by defensive towers that slowly, but frequently, attack any opposing unit who gets within its line of sight. Weak computer-controlled creatures called "creeps" travel predefined paths along the lanes and attempt to attack any opposing heroes, creeps, and buildings in their way.^[7] Creeps periodically spawn throughout the game in groups from two buildings, called the "barracks", that exist in each lane and are located within the team's bases.^[8] The map is also permanently covered for both teams in fog of war, which prevents a team from seeing the opposing team's heroes and creeps if they are not directly in sight of an allied unit. Placeable items, known as "wards", are able to be placed in most locations on the map, granting line of sight vision in a small area around it for every hero whose team had planted it.^[9] Wards last for six minutes after being placed, and will disappear once time runs out.^[9] Also present on the map are "neutral creeps" that are hostile to both teams, and reside in marked locations on the map known as "camps". Camps are located in the area between the lanes known as the "jungle", which both sides of the map have.^[10]Neutral creeps do not attack unless provoked, and will respawn over time if killed. The most powerful neutral creep is named "Roshan"; he is a unique boss who may be killed by either side to obtain an item that allows a one-time resurrection by the hero that holds it.^[11] Roshan will respawn 8–11 minutes after being killed, and becomes progressively harder to kill as the match continues over time.

In addition to having abilities becoming stronger during the game, players are able to buy items that provide their own special abilities.^[11]Items are not limited to specific heroes, and can be bought by anyone. In order to obtain an item, players must be able to afford it with gold, which is primarily obtained by killing enemy heroes, destroying enemy structures, and killing creeps, with the latter being an act called "farming".Only the hero that lands the killing blow on a creep obtains gold from it, an act called "last hitting", but all nearby allies receive gold when an enemy hero dies.Players are also able to "deny" allied units and structures by destroying them, which then prevents their opponents from getting full experience.The player also receives a small, continuous stream of gold over the course of a match.^[12]

Dota 2 also features seasonal events that present players with alternative game modes that do not follow the game's standard rules.^[13] Some of these included the Halloween-themed Diretide event,^[14] the Christmas-themed Frostivus event,^[15] and the New Bloom Festival, which celebrated the coming of spring.^[16] In October 2015, a Halloween-themed "capture point" game mode was released, titled "Colosseum".^[17] The move to the Source 2 engine in 2015 also saw the addition of community-created custom game modes, with the more popular ones having dedicated server hosting by Valve.^[18] In 2016, Valve introduced the "Custom Game Pass" option to custom game modes, which allows content creators to add exclusive features, content, and other changes to their game mode.^[19]